Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 11,861 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 520,835 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,861 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.20% of HCA Healthcare worth $167,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,503,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,121,000 after buying an additional 1,183,890 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of HCA Healthcare by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,792,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $931,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019,750 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 11,404,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,086,836,000 after buying an additional 456,738 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in HCA Healthcare during the second quarter worth $131,527,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare by 230.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 553,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,747,000 after buying an additional 385,854 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at HCA Healthcare

In other HCA Healthcare news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at $6,303,912.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Kathryn A. Torres sold 1,857 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.05, for a total value of $659,327.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,303,912.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael S. Cuffe sold 8,358 shares of HCA Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.42, for a total transaction of $3,221,340.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,438,494.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,202 shares of company stock worth $6,407,273. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HCA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on HCA Healthcare from $378.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on HCA Healthcare from $405.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com raised HCA Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $392.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $359.89.

HCA Healthcare Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE HCA opened at $404.37 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $370.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.59. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a one year low of $215.96 and a one year high of $405.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.11, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $105.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.67.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $5.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.53. HCA Healthcare had a return on equity of 553.13% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm had revenue of $17.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 22.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. HCA Healthcare’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.16%.

HCA Healthcare Profile

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy.